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Patrick H. Nicholas begins his fifth season at the helm of the UNCG volleyball program in 2013. It is his 13th season as a Division I head coach and he is just three victories away from 200 for his career.

Nicholas led the Spartans to 13 victories overall and seven in Southern Conference play in 2012. He mentored junior outside hitter Karrian Chambers to a spot on the All-Southern Conference Second Team as well as NCCSIA All-State accolades. Under his tutelage, UNCG held on to second place in the SoCon North Division for a majority of the season before ending its campaign with qualification to the league tournament. Additionally, setter Ari Lysacek finished her career fourth on the school's career top 10 list in assists (3,475).

The Spartans finished 15-17 overall and 7-9 in Southern Conference play in 2011 - Nicholas' third season with the program. Sophomore Kellie Orewiler was named the SoCon Libero of the Year after pacing the circuit in digs per set in conference matches.

Nicholas improved on the success of his first season at UNCG by leading the team to a 22-12 record during his second season, including a 9-7 mark in Southern Conference matches. The 2011 squad started the year 7-0 and also put together a six-match winning streak midway through the season en route to advancing to the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.

During his first season in 2010, Nicholas led the Spartans to a 17-14 overall record and a 9-7 mark in Southern Conference action. Under his direction, Catherine Hanners earned Southern Conference Libero of the Year honors, as well as being named to the All-SoCon second-team. Freshman Kellie Orewiler was named to the SoCon All-Freshman Team as a libero and senior Kayren Finney earned SoCon All-Tournament Team honors.

A passionate proponent for the growth of women's volleyball, Nicholas has served the last two years as the head coach of the Carolina Region High Performance Team and takes the squad to compete in the High Performance National Championships under the USA Volleyball umbrella.

Nicholas is currently the sixth head coach in the program’s last 30 years and owns the second-most victories in school history. It is his third tenure as a women’s head coach having served as the women’s head coach at Lehigh and Troy. In nine seasons as a head coach of women’s intercollegiate volleyball, he has a career record 197-169.

Nicholas arrived at UNCG after serving two seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Marshall University. While at Marshall, Nicholas helped lead the Thundering Herd to a 35-23 overall record in those two seasons, including a 22-8 mark in 2007. Marshall won the Conference USA regular-season championship with a 15-1 league record that season. He also helped mold three student-athletes into American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans.

Nicholas has had two previous stints as a women’s head coach on the collegiate level at Troy University and Lehigh University. He received his first women’s head coaching job at Lehigh, where he coached from 1997-2003. He led the Mountain Hawks to a 121-92 record in his seven seasons and was the first coach in school history to lead the program to seven consecutive winning seasons. While at Lehigh, he won the Patriot League tournament championship in 1997. He also had a total of 16 student-athletes named All-Patriot League.

After leaving Lehigh as the school’s all-time leader in wins, Nicholas went on to coach at Troy for the 2004 season. Nicholas left the program after that season to open his own volleyball training center. He owned and operated the High Performance Training Volleyball School in Austin, Texas.

He also served as the men’s head coach for Navy’s program from 1986-90 while serving as an officer and instructor at the Naval Academy. Nicholas was named the EIVA Coach of the Year on the men’s side in 1989. When he took over as head coach prior to the 1986 season, he led the squad to its first-ever top-20 finish, and his teams continued to finish in the top 20 throughout his tenure there.

As well as being a head coach, Nicholas has served as an assistant coach for many nationally recognized programs. He coached at Ohio State (1995-97), Purdue (1994-95), Navy (1992-94) and George Mason (1984-85). While at George Mason, Nicholas helped coach the team to back-to-back final four appearances where they won the third-place match both seasons. At Ohio State, he helped the Buckeyes to back-to-back Round of 16 appearances in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship.

In addition to intercollegiate coaching, Nicholas has a wealth of experience coaching several national and club programs around the nation. In 1990, he was the head coach for the U.S. Olympic Sports Festival Team that earned a bronze medal. He later went on to be an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 1993-94. After that, he coached the San Diego Spikers of the NVA women’s professional league and led them to the league championship.

While also coaching at Lehigh, Nicholas was the head coach of the United States 14 and under National Team from 1997-2000. He served as the on-site director, coordinator and evaluator at the national tryouts for the USA girl’s junior, youth and 14 and under teams from 1997-2004. He was also an assistant coach for the USA Women’s National A-2 Team in 1999 and 2001. He was the head coach of Club Annapolis that won a gold medal at the 1990 U.S. Open Championships and a silver medal in 1997.

Nicholas earned his bachelor’s degree in 1986 in parks, recreation and leisure studies from George Mason, where he was a member of the men’s volleyball team in 1983, where they reached a top-10 ranking for the first time in school history.

Nicholas helped George Mason’s men’s program earn its first-ever top-10 national ranking and first-ever trip to the finals of the conference tournament in school history. Upon his graduation, Nicholas played for the Washington Volleyball Club and won a bronze medal at the U.S. Open Championships in 1987.